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Diesel Particulate Filter

The purpose of a DPF is to filter out particulate matter (a.k.a. black smoke) from a Diesel engine's exhaust, which consists of two distinct components, soot and ash. Soot is elemental carbon, which is the visible black stuff you see, and soot is the result of unburned fuel. Ash, on the other hand, consists of non-combustible metallic salts and is formed because engine oil contains many magnesium, calcium, and zinc compounds, and small amounts of oil are inevitably going to be burned along with the fuel.

A DPF is typically a big muffler with a ceramic honeycomb inside it that catches all this soot and ash and holds on to it. It doesn't let it out the tailpipe. It works well. But the problem is, it's a FILTER, and over time it's gonna get plugged. And once it's plugged up you now have an exhaust restriction, which is bad for your engine. It reduces your power, and you get all sorts of other problems. So how do you get the DPF to be clean again?

Many engines now have regeneration systems that spray fuel into the exhaust and blow air into it, then they light this fuel on fire so that the DPF can be heated to around 600°C in order for the soot be turned into carbon dioxide. This clears out the soot. Ash, on the other hand, is non-combustible and builds up in the DPF over time. Even during regeneration ash remains in the DPF and at some point you will have to wash the thing out or have it professionally cleaned in order to get rid of it.

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